Slimmers’ fury as diet sausages revealed to be 800% worse than first claimed

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Published:11:06Thursday 02 March 2017

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Dieters have gone bonkers after low fat sausages they were pigging out were recategorised by Derbyshire-based Slimming World - as 800 percent worse than initially thought.

The ‘healthy’ banger caused a storm after the diet club categorised them as having just 0.5 ‘syn points’ due to their claim of having only 2.5g of fat.

A empty shelf of sold out Porky Lights sausages

Supermarkets were selling out of the pork bangers - advertised as just 78 calories - quicker than they can buy them in, leaving bare shelves across the country.

But now Slimming World, which has its headquarters in Alfreton, has re-categorised the sausages after “analysis showed the sausages were indeed much higher in fat than the nutrition panel indicated”.

Slimming World say Porky Lights should now be counted as 4.5 syns EACH - meaning dieters have been unknowingly breaking their diets for months.

The diet plan lets followers consume up to 15 ‘points’ worth of higher calories foods and treats a day.

However the Surrey-based makers of the sausages, G White & Son have hit back about the new test results.

A statement on their website says: “Slimming World’s recent re-valuation of the Porky Lights Syn value as a result of some new tests has come to light and is causing concern amongst Porky Lights customers.

G White & Co are currently in dialogue with Slimming World to establish how their values were ascertained but want to unequivocally state that the Slimming World results are neither consistent between their own batch tests and are highly inconsistent with the nutritional results that have been produced by numerous tests, over a number of months from a number of independent UKAS approved food laboratories. We have only the interests of our customers at this time and have published our most recent set of nutritional results for all to see.

“We hope to be working closely with Slimming World to understand how their results differ from the findings of other laboratories and hope that once clarified, the temporary withdrawal of Porky Lights from the Slimming World’s Syns Database can be reversed and Porky Lights fans can enjoy their sausages in the full knowledge that they really are only 3% fat and 78 calories per sausage.”

But this has not stopped their Facebook page being bombarded with angry messages from furious dieters.

Alice James wrote: “Will we be entitled to a full refund for our porky lights please? They are no good to us anymore if recent research is true.”

Sammie Grinstead‎ vented: “I WOULD LIKE A REFUND FOR EVERY PACKET OF PORKY LIGHTS I HAVE PURCHASED...HOW CAN YOU GET IT SO WRONG #PORKYSTELLINGPORKYS”

“We have been informed that the fat contend has tested far higher than what packaging states.

“This has the potential to affect a great deal of us. What else is wrong on the NI?”

Claire Brookes‎ added: “Disgusted to see you have misinformed thousands of slimmers by giving out the wrong nutritional information!!

“Affecting everyone’s weight loss! I have a freezer drawer full of porky lights that I now can’t eat!

“Absolutely shocking!! Will never be buying your product again and will be informing everyone I can about this!”

The £2.25 six-pack of low fat 70 per cent pork sausages were released in a limited number of smaller supermarkets last year, it is understood.

But after word spread of their alleged 0.5 syn value, the suppliers Porky Whites sold them into larger shops.

The Porky Whites Facebook page has more than 4,000 likes and almost every visitor post - until this week - was from Slimming World devotees asking for more sausages.

On Wednesday Slimming World consultants started to spread the word of the apparently false information about their nutritional value.

A statement shared online - which members said Slimming World had sent them, said: “The Food Co-ordination team at Slimming World Head Office has done some analysis on Porky Lights sausages, after becoming a little concerned about their fatty (albeit delicious!) texture.

“The analysis showed that the sausages were indeed much higher in fat than the nutrition panel indicated - and this does affect their Syn value significantly.

We’ve been in touch with Porky Lights to let them know our findings, and they’re looking into it as we speak.

“To help protect your weight loss until we have accurate nutritional information to use as a base for our calculations, the sausages have been temporarily removed from Syns Online, the App and Weight Loss Planner’s Syns search and on the Syns Hotline.

“In the meantime, if you have a pack of Porky Lights in your fridge/freezer, we’d recommend you count 4½ Syns per sausage.

“We’ll be in touch with more news - through your Consultant - once we have it.”

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